The survey asked shoppers to rate their satisfaction with their laundry detergent in seven categories: overall satisfaction, price, cleaning quality, number of washes, environmental friendliness, smell and feel of clothes. Ecostore laundry detergent came out on top receiving a five star rating in six categories including overall satisfaction.

Derek Bonnar CANSTAR, New Zealand National Manager says the survey also rated how satisfied consumers were with their laundry detergent.

"Our findings reinforce the widely accepted view that New Zealanders are finding things tough. Budgets are tight and shoppers are looking to save money where they can. Shoppers are also interested in getting added value from the products they buy."

Founder and managing director of ecostore, Malcolm Rands noted that the interesting factor in the survey was that people were increasingly aware that good value is more than just the shelf price.

"It's great that people are seeing us more and more as providing good value, especially when times are tough. We've never used fillers or bulking agents in our products, so people don't need to use as much. The reality is our laundry powder, per scoop, is one of the lowest on the supermarket shelves."

ecostore outperformed the pack in Smell, Feel of clothes and environmental friendliness, and got a top five star rating in cleaning performance.

Canstar Blue commissioned Colmar Brunton Australia to survey New Zealand consumers. The outcomes reported are from 1858 shoppers who have purchased laundry detergent within the last 12 months.

Colmar Brunton's latest Better Business, Better World survey cites ecostore, as the only SME, and one of only four brands that the public named as the most sustainable organisations in New Zealand. The other three brands were Air New Zealand, Meridian and Body Shop.

This is the second year in a row that ecostore has been highlighted by Kiwis as leading the way in sustainable thinking. The survey also found that companies that took sustainability seriously were seen as being innovative and progressive.

Rands says being sustainable makes good business sense.

"Being sustainable makes you look long-term and implement better business practices that will last. Sure the cost might be more upfront but over time it saves you money, time, builds you client loyalty and trust which is hard to put a price on."

Rands says ecostore has seen a shift in customers from those concerned about the environment.

"People are becoming more aware of not only what's good for the environment but what's good for them and their family. Health is a hot topic and we're finding people want to know not only what they are putting down their drains but importantly what they and their family are putting on their skin."

The survey results strongly demonstrated consumers saw ecostore to be a leader in sustainability through its approach to packaging, product waste, not using bulk and fillers and company values that drove standards and commitment independent of market forces.

"We always err on the side of caution so if we have any concerns about an ingredient, we simply find an alternative that we are 100 percent happy with. As a result customers regularly tell us they trust ecostore."

The survey also indicated consumers were appreciative of being able to buy ecostore products in their local supermarket.

"Early on we recognised that if our products were going to become household names they needed to be able to be purchased along with the weekly shopping items. This meant a pricing structure that had smaller margins and as a company that's something we were prepared to accept as we believe in what we are doing and our strategy is long-term."

The Better Business, Better World' survey captured the opinions of 1000 people online over July-August 2011, representing a national spread of age, gender and region.